Sacrifices
by Flying Penguinz
Summary: Amelie has brought back Samuel from the grave with an ancient ritual Myrnin kept hidden from her. What consequences will this reanimation come with? What will happen to Morganville? And most of all, what sacrifices will have to be made in order for Sam to remain?
1. Part One: Reanimation

**Part One: Reanimation**

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It was early in the morning, just as the first bit of daylight was beginning to turn the horizon a glowing blue, when a flash of energy coursed through Myrnin's laboratory.

Myrnin looked up from the microscope he'd been peering through.

A portal, surface shimmering and presence cutting, was suspended there, in the middle of his lab. It had been brought forth feebly, and manifested in a way he did not recognize. Only a select few in Morganville had access to portals and he knew all of their signature ways of opening them; this one had not been made by someone he could discern.

_Who was controlling his doorways?_

A strong wind blew through the portal to his home and immediately, Myrnin smelled blood mixed with earth and rot carried to him on the air currents. Fallen autumn leaves came in from the outside and spun around his lab, finding sanctuary under his tables and cabinets. Myrnin moved around his work table and went to it, curiosity ablaze.

Before Myrnin could reach the portal, a woman fell through, her platinum blonde hair swirling around her in the wind. He caught her before she could fall to the ground and eased her gently onto the Persian rug. There were large cuts on either of her forearms and blood was flowing out of her wrists, dripping onto the floor.

Myrnin brushed hair out of her face and tucked it behind her ear.

_Amelie_.

Tears were falling freely from her eyes, but she did not look sad. A vague look was upon her too-pale face—but something in her shined-over eyes was triumphant. A ghost of a smile played with the corners of her lips as she looked up at Myrnin who was wrought with confusion and incomprehension.

Amelie reached up with what little strength she had left and brought a bloodied, shaking hand to his cheek, trying to console her old friend. "I've brought him back, _mon sot_."

Her eyes closed, her hand fell from Myrnin's face, and the portal snapped shut, leaving Myrnin with an eerie silence that sung a song of death.

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**I would very much appreciate reviews.**


	2. Warnings

**Thank you for all the kind words you left for the first chapter.**

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Myrnin knew she was referring to Samuel Glass, the man she had asked him countless times to bring back from the grave. And he had a faint idea of just how she had done it on her own, but he expelled the thought quickly from his mind as he began taking care of the more urgent matter in front of him.

"Amelie," he said in a hushed tone, shaking her small shoulder gently. She did not respond. The smile upon her lips was haunting. "Amelie," Myrnin repeated, shaking her harder now.

He looked down at her wrists, remembering she had been bleeding. His face wrinkled in disdain and empathy at two silver coins that had been so crudely keeping open the self-inflicted wounds in her arms. Myrnin pulled his sleeve over his hand and tore the coins from her arm, throwing them across the lab with a hiss.

This was _not_ Amelie.

Her poise was gone, lost, perhaps, in the wind that was raging outside this very moment. Lost in the cemetery she came from. It had been someone else who had opened the portal, someone else who had no idea what control was. Amelie was blinded by her love for Samuel; she didn't know what she was getting herself into.

Amelie was strong, held together by time and ice, and would never resort to such desperate measures. She understood that Samuel was long gone. Surely, it had been so long that she didn't remember how to—

Suddenly, she stirred. Her eyes shot open and her irises were no longer a cool gray, but crimson. Her lips twisted up in a menacing grin, showing off her sharp fangs.

For a split second, she was frozen in that state. But then, she saw Myrnin sitting next to her; Amelie sat up in a smooth motion too fast for even Myrnin to see and took his wrist in her hands and brought it to her mouth. He didn't resist her when she bit into his; he would not deny her blood when she so obviously needed it.

Once Amelie had drunk her fill, she laid back down on the floor and closed her eyes while she inhaled deliberately, her abdomen rising and falling slowly as she did so.

Tears slipped between her closed lids and fell into her hair that already had several dead leaves tangled in the locks and matted in places with dried blood. She pressed the back of her hand on her forehead and sighed deeply.

"You kept it from me," she said, her words hardly more than a whisper. "You, my oldest friend, hid this away when I could have used it the _moment_ his eyes closed on me."

Myrnin blinked, but his face remained expressionless. He knew what she was talking about and there was no use keeping it a secret. Amelie knew of his betrayal.

"It was for your own good."

Her eyes flashed open and suddenly she was standing. "'_For my own good?_'" she hissed down at him. "I was _dead_ inside!" she screamed, her voice beginning to shake with emotion. "I _asked_ you to bring him back. I asked you to do what you did best—your _science_—and bring back my Samuel. And you disobeyed my wishes by hiding those instructions from me!"

Amelie reached into a pocket in her dress and took out a folded piece of yellowed paper and threw it onto his lap. Myrnin didn't need to look at it to know that it was the instructions she had been referring to.

Myrnin kept his composure and said to her calmly, "It's not science, Amelie. What you have done is far beyond the realms of science," he said quietly. "And I refused you for a reason: reanimation comes with dire consequences; it's never a good idea to resurrect the dead."

"I need to see him," she breathed, listening to her thoughts rather than Myrnin's warning. "I left him," she said, realization flashing in her eyes. "He'll be in the cemetery."

A portal opened—and this one Myrnin knew had been opened by Amelie, not because she had done it standing before him, but because he could sense that tangible flare of icy power that always accompanied Amelie's conjuring of portals—and the wind picked up in Myrnin's laboratory again. The leaves that had hidden themselves in between furniture were torn away from their habitation and forced to twirl about in the breeze. Loose papers joined them in their frenzy and spun about in the lab.

Before Amelie could step through the portal, Myrnin shut it with a _snap_. "No," he said. "You can't."

She spun around, her composure having returned somewhat, she raised her brows at him and glared menacingly. "Ex_cuse_ me?" she snarled, her voice dangerously quiet. "First you refuse me my Samuel and now my access to my portals?"

"Amelie," Myrnin said seriously, "raising the dead is not a natural thing. I implore you, my friend, see reason. Please, do not return to him tonight." He was still sitting on the floor with his legs folded underneath him, blood trickling out of his arm where Amelie had bitten him. She must have noticed too, for next, she frowned and knelt down next to him and kissed the wound gently, an apologetic look in her eyes. The flesh closed, and the blood stopped flowing.

"Wounds inflicted by an Elder's fangs must be healed by their touch, you recall," she said to him absently, seeming to have forgotten Samuel momentarily. "Something I have found very trying as time progressed." She rose, looking graceful as ever despite her assaulted appearance. "Fetch me some blood, Myrnin. I will require some human nutrient if I am to proceed."

It was strange. As if she did not recall what had happened so recently. Amelie was back to being Founder, not a lovesick woman, broken by heartache.

And then, her eyes went wide and her irises swirled with black. Her head was thrown back by an invisible force and her voice came out distorted, a mix of voices—all demonic and filled with anger: "_Those who play in my court shall perish_._ Be warned, my foolish children. One who touches the Underworld will be forever cursed._"

It was as if the Devil himself was speaking through Amelie and all Myrnin could do was stare.

But it left her as soon as it had come. Amelie's eyes were cool gray and when she spoke again, her voice was as it had always been.

"Well? Will you not serve me? I desire human supplement."

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**Please review.**


	3. Alive

Myrnin's brows came together as he stared at Amelie's apparent obliviousness to what had just occurred. She raised a brow at him expectantly.

"Well?" she asked impatiently. "Do I have to get the blood myself?"

Myrnin shook himself and rose from his place on the floor. "No. No, I'll get it," he said. "I haven't anymore O negative, so—"

"Yes," she replied, "AB positive will do. As you probably already knew."

"Right," he confirmed. "Fine."

Myrnin gave Amelie one last glance before leaving the lab and going into a back room that held a refrigerator and several cabinets stored with miscellaneous items he'd collected over the decades.

As he searched through the cupboards for a decent cup to drink from, he remembered the strange trance Amelie had gone into. Certainly, she had not realized the... _message_ she'd relayed to him. But what—besides the obvious—had it meant?

_Those who play in my court shall perish. Be warned, my foolish children. One who touches the Underworld will be forever cursed. _

Whose court were they playing in? Who had the authority to call Myrnin and Amelie their 'children?' And what kind of curse would plague the person who tampered with the dead?

Myrnin was rummaging through the refrigerator and finally found a bag of AB positive when he felt the burst of energy that told him a portal was being called upon in the lab. _Dash it all._

He rushed back to where he had left Amelie (foolishly unattended) and found the place was empty.

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Sam could only remember a strange tugging sensation and then something grabbing at him, pulling him upward while another being tried to haul him the other way. And then suddenly gasping for breath in the dark. _In a coffin. _The air had been stale and cold while darkness wrapped around his body, as if reluctant to let him leave.

But Sam clawed at the lid of his coffin and pushed, finding he still had his vampire strength. The lid eventually gave way and then dirt covered his body, getting in his eyes and nose and mouth. He dug upwards until his hand broke through to cool night air, sprouting up from the ground like some strange new species of plant in desperate need for sunlight.

Now, having pulled himself from the ground and emerging from it in an odd kind of rebirth, Samuel was sitting at his grave that was soaked with blood, his head in his hands as he cried.

_What is this_, he thought to himself, over and over again in his mind. _What have I been brought into?_

Sam knew it must be earth. Morganville. The cemetery.

It was like emerging from a deep sleep into a world of unknowns. This couldn't be real. It just _couldn't. _

He could not be back.

Suddenly, the air before him seemed to shimmer and he felt something pass through the silence like a ripple in still water. A portal.

And then— Then _she _stepped through.

Like an angel, she seemed to glow in the dark cemetery, her silver hair shining in the slight moonlight. The skirts of her dress billowed in the wind that swirled her hair around her face.

"_Amelie_," he breathed.

She was beautiful.

A stolid expression was upon her weary face as she made her way toward him, but when she saw that he was there, sitting next to his grave, her expression softened. Tears appeared in her eyes and she smiled as best she could at him through her pain.

Amelie fell to her knees when she was a foot from him, burying her face in her hands and weeping. Her words were a jumble of loving phrases and the beginnings of apologies mixed with the sound of her sobs, emerging from her lips as incoherent mutterings.

"Samuel, I can't believe I ever— I'm so sorry— I've missed you. I—"

Before she could make another sound, Sam wrapped his arm around her crumpled frame and brought up her chin with his forefinger. For a moment they were both silent as they gazed into each other's wet eyes until Sam pressed his lips against hers.

This kiss lasted a long time and filled Samuel with emotions he felt he had forgotten. But love stirred in his heart, a bird with fluttering wings taking residence in his chest. He studied the feel of her hair with his hands as he kissed her while memories flooded back to his mind, blurry and faded, but undeniably his own.

And then he seemed to remember something, as if this thought had been somewhere in the back of his mind.

"I didn't think I'd see you again." The words slipped from his mouth without a conscious thought from Sam. Something was tugging at his thoughts, but he ignored it. Whatever it was could wait.

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_How senseless love could make out of one so sensible._

Myrnin paced about in his lab, a ceaseless walk that he thought might rid him of his anxiety. He wouldn't chase after Amelie into the cemetery to interrupt her and Samuel's reunion; it was too late to stop it anyway.

Amelie would never listen to him now.

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**Sorry, this is really awful, I just need to update something before I slip away into the bottomless crevasse of procrastination otherwise known as school.**


	4. The Price One Pays

The laboratory stank of wet earth and his own apprehension, a constant reminder of the issue of Amelie like an unrelenting weight on his shoulders. Myrnin went throughout the lab, gathering the things he would require while stepping over the dead leaves that had entered his home on the breeze. Pieces of parchment went into one of his pockets while a bag of blood went into the other.

Throwing on a long leather coat, Myrnin opened a portal to the warehouse in Common Grounds and instantly recognized the smell of coffee and the underlying scent of human enjoyment that had bled through from the main cafe to the back of the building. Myrnin had fully intended to find Oliver in the front of his shop, but it was too late to turn around and reopen the portal when he saw the intolerable man was standing before him, glaring with cold anger.

"You fool," Oliver snapped. "What do you think you're doing?"

He realized suddenly that—while he had appeared in the warehouse—the smell of coffee was much too powerful. Myrnin looked down and saw that he had opened a portal right in the middle of a bag of beans, effectively cutting it in half, and spilling them out of the burlap sack onto the cement floor.

Myrnin waved this away as he had more important matters to discus with Oliver. "This is of little matter to me, you harebrained monstrosity—"

But before Myrnin could finish his quick insult that would end something along the lines of "_who enjoys flaunting his homosexuality during the darkest junction of the night,_" the man he'd been dishonoring made a swing for Myrnin's face.

He ducked just in time, but Oliver looked very upset.

Myrnin caught another glance at Oliver's face and realized that perhaps "very" was an understatement.

"Oliver, I haven't got time for your—"

"You _idiot!_" Oliver roared as he made to ram into Myrnin with the full weight of his body. "_Why did you keep that god damned mysticism from her!_"

Myrnin was so surprised by Oliver's reaction that he didn't respond when Oliver tackled him except to let escape a small "oomph" from his lips at the impact of the collision. How did Oliver know of it? Was he also aware of Amelie's attempt to sacrifice herself for the sake of an old lover? Surely not, for Oliver would never allow it; not even _he_ was stupid enough to have the inability to comprehend the consequences of Amelie's possible demise.

Oliver was making to wrap his hands around Myrnin's throat, so, in one lithe maneuver Oliver probably had no idea Myrnin could make, he shifted Oliver's weight, using the inertia to his opponent's disadvantage. In the next moment, Myrnin was sitting astride the coffee shop owner* with the man's arms pinned down under his knees.

Taking out the pieces of parchment he'd stuffed hastily in his coat pockets, Myrnin shoved them roughly in Oliver's face. "_This_ is why," he hissed. "Amelie found the instructions."

Oliver ceased his struggling under Myrnin and read the words on the papers before his face.

"When?"

Myrnin shook his head. "I don't know."

Silence fell between them as Myrnin let him process the information he'd been given. Next, Oliver said, "Last night."

"How do you know?"

Oliver made to get up but Myrnin sent him a sharp, distrustful glance. Oliver reciprocated the look with one just as harsh and Myrnin reluctantly removed himself and stood.

Once Oliver was up he said, "She came here raving in French I think about how she couldn't trust anyone anymore because of a magic that was keeping her and someone apart. She said—in English—'_I can do it now._'"

Myrnin was livid. "_And that didn't make you in any way suspicious?!_" He so badly wanted to run Oliver through with a steel rod.

"Amelie often expresses her troubles to me in French without expecting an answer. If she does not require me to speak, I have no need to."

"Your 'man of few words' act is revolting."

"Well, your 'wounded scientist' front—"

"I need you to help me with Amelie."

The words came so quickly from Myrnin's mouth that he thought perhaps if he swallowed hard enough, they'd return to the back of his mouth.

Oliver looked just as confused.

"I beg your pardon?"

Myrnin cleared the hesitation from his throat and, along with it, the pride from his mind. "Amelie and I have never been... _intimate._" From the look on Oliver's face, he too was regretting entering into this conversation. Myrnin continued, "And we have a serious situation that must be taken care of with an incredible amount of delicacy." He waited for a moment so Oliver could comprehend his request. "Amelie has tampered with witchcraft and rose Samuel from his grave."

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Sam was cold.

It wasn't because he and Amelie were staring up at the stars together, lying down in the dewy grass of the cemetery. It wasn't because he was a vampire and was cold blooded by nature. It was the moon. Sam was positive it had something to do with the moon. She looked so lonely hanging high above the earth; it made him cold just thinking about how sad she was.

But Samuel shouldn't feel lonely: he had Amelie. There, right beside him, nestled in the crook of his arm. For some reason, however, Sam couldn't keep his mind on what was in front of him.

Something magical was surrounding them—an ethereal presence he couldn't focus on completely, but knew was there—a thousand tiny auras accumulated to create an ambiance of sanctified greatness he was unable to properly explain.

"Do you feel that?" he said quietly to Amelie.

She was silent.

Sam looked down at Amelie but when he did it wasn't the Founder. Amelie's eyes were wide open and swirling with black similar to the way they would on a hunt, but not crimson. On her face was a malevolent grin Sam had only ever seen a number of times in his life.

In a second, Sam scrambled to his knees beside her and took hold of her hand.

"Amelie?" he said frantically.

Her smile twisted up and she laughed—her voice not her own, but a chorus of demons, sounding like they had just crawled from the mouth of hell.

"_I send you my felicitations on your escape, Samuel, but your lover will not be so lucky. Leave her with me; this is the price you pay for returning to the world above. She tried to deceive me and leave me no payment, but I am not so foolish. _

"_I've taken away your curses but granted you with two new ones. Again, congratulations._"

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***In a completely non-sexual way. Please don't start shipping them like that, I wouldn't be able to take it.**

**Anyway, I haven't updated anything in a while so reviews would be lovely.**


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